He did not write or appear on-screen in "Inside Man," "She Hate Me" in 2004, or 2002's "25th Hour." Though he remains focused on black America, his approach has become quieter, less self-conscious. He also often wrote, produced and directed his films, enlisting family members to contribute music, writing and acting.īut in recent years, Lee has stepped back. Lee himself was often in front of the camera, playing a string of incendiary sidekick characters. "Spike Lee's films get people to talk about what race means and how race continues to function in our society."ĢFor years, Lee did that with an in-your-face approach - characters who yelled racial slurs at the screen, on-screen brawls between whites and blacks. "He's made a tremendous difference in the history of American cinema," said Jacqueline Stewart, a film professor at Northwestern University in Chicago who teaches a class on Lee's work. Steadfastly chipping away at the subject in ever more complex ways, he has helped make race and ethnicity central to American film. Though filmmakers have always dabbled in racial topics, Lee, who is black, has been unique. Nearly all of Lee's films have strong African-American themes and characters. Since then, he has released an average of a film every year, including this year's "Inside Man," his most profitable, with $185 million in global sales. Twenty years ago this month, his first feature film, "She's Gotta Have It," hit theaters to instant praise from critics. The four-hour documentary marks a career milestone for Lee. Lee also addressed the documentary with Judy Faber of ShowBuzz.
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